Hey guys,

Believe it or not I still haven't bought a new car for me to get around in but that may have found one just after some opinions, now its not exactly within the initial requirements that I set but I think that the stretch is worthwhile.....

1997 Honda Prelude VTI-R
Tiptronic automatic, silver,
70,000kms, 2nd owner
Log books, Alarm, two new tyres and
1 small door ding no other blemishes (as stated by owner no inspection as yet)
3 months registration everything else is standard and it includes the rear wing which Im not very partial to but nothing to sway me.
$18,000

Problem is that its about $7000 more than I wanted to spend originally and insurance is going to be around $2000/year due only to my youth.

Pros are that it a steal, low ks, Honda reliability, good mileage and all of the usual comforts come standard.

So my question is, keeping in mind that I dont need something this good, am I being a self indulgent weiner or is this a smart buy that I shouldn't let go provided the inspection meets the expectations?

 

That's quite cheap. If it was a manual I would have bought it without hesitation.

I've owned two 5th generation preludes in the past and they are really great cars. However, note the tiptronic is simply awful (if you haven't tested already) and is also s2000-thirsty. I used to get 300-320km per tank.

It does sound like you ARE a self indulgent weiner although I guess it depends on why you sold your s2000 in the first place.

Good luck!

 

Well I sold the S2000 to free up some money but for the moment it seems as though the real estate market is not ready for me yet

So you're saying that the lude will guzzle as much as the s2000? Or are you saying that the tiptronic will guzzle more than the manual?

I really would have like the manual because I wanted a manual car but I thought that the tiptronic was close enough. I have driven a tiptronic prelude before but at that time it was probably the nicest car that I'd driven so I couldn't compare it.

My thoughts at the moment are that if I buy it and it turns out to be something that doesn't suit my needs then I could sell it and recover the stamp duty and possibly still end up on top because I am purchasing it outright so I wouldn't have to rush the sale to beat my payments.

Thanks for relaying your experience anyuthing else that I should look out for re: tsbs etc? Is there a website like this one that I should look at?

 

After the revelations that came about yesterday I dont think that I'll be buying a prelude and I know that I certainly wont be going near this one.

I'll go from the start..... as I posted earlier this guy repeatedly told me that the car was in immaculate condition and had definitely never been in a smash in the 4 years that he'd owned the car. So although I was thinking that it sounded too good to be true I couldn't let it go so I asked a favour of my mum and yesterday she took a drive from Camden over to North Sydney and take a quick look at the car before we spent the extra $200 and got the proper inspection. The guy rang mum while she was there and asked her what she thought of it and she was honest and told him that it was in supsiciously good condition for a 7 year old car with 70K on it so she asked again, are you certain that it hasn't been in a smash? No definitely not came the reply.

So at this stage I thought maybe I was just getting lucky so I rang up and organised for Sydney Vehicle Inpspectors to take a look that afternoon and told the guy once the car passes I'll meet with him and we could complete the transfer. So at this stage Im sold on the car and pretty excited that it was in such good nick and legitimate.

Around 5pm I got a call telling me that the car was inspected by the same guy back in december and the results hadn't changed.

Ready........

Major smash in the rear driver side, overspray around both doors, boot wouldn't shut properly, rust, bog, seals not properly fitted, several oil leaks, poor wheel alignment.... the list goes on!

Now I instantly reach boiling point like and steaming. So I rang mum and we spoke about it and told her how I regretted not telling the punk to pay for the inspection and add it to the price of the car, but, we still agree that we should call him and see what he has to say for himself.

So mum called him first since I was still too angry to be civilised about the matter. He still stood by his word and denied any knowledge of the problems and expected some kind of understanding from us So mum asked him if he had any morals whatsoever and told him that if he did that he'd pay the inspection money back to me since if he was honest I wouldn't have wasted the time. The low bellied prick still denied any responsibility or wrong doing by his part.

Now I call him and Im quite proud to say that I started off very reasonable and diplomatic. After still prclaiming his innocence to me I asked him if he would tell future prospective buyers the information that came about from my inspection and he bs'ed saying that he'd get the engine fixed and brushed off the extensive framework damage. So this approach was getting me nowhere so I decided it was time to let out some of that steam

Btw here's the link to his ad on drive.com.au

Shame File

and here is a copy of his ad on the trading post

HONDA PRELUDE VTI-R 1997 Silver automatic, 67000kms, 1st to see will buy, low kms, full service history, immaculate condition, alarm, sunroof, rear spoiler, priced to sell AGL-94S $21900 WILLOUGHBY 0413-94 4550

Ask for Simon

 

Ouch.... I guess nothing is ever cheap without reason.

Still looking for a Prelude? You can make them as fast as the s2000 with a just a few mods. Perhaps that would tempt you a bit

Have fun.

 

realthing I wasn't planning on spending that much and I certainly dont want to buy something and turn it into a money machine. I know that usually if its cheap there's a reason but Ive had bigger bargains than that before and no problem at all.

 

Wow dude that really bites.

I feel like wasting some of this bastards time for fun. I might just give him a call and give him the runaround. Hey, I've never driven an auto prelude before....

The shape of that prelude actually grew on me after awhile. You know it's one of the only honda's that has the right gap between the tire and the guards. There's no need to lower it. (well to my eyes).

wil..

 

I had another bad experience a little while back where I spoke to the lady over the phone and told her what I was willing to offer her for the car if it was in the excellent condition that she proclaimed and made it very clear that I couldn't pay any more. She agreed and again since I was busy with work mum went over with the grandkids (not mine ) got to Sylvania and found the car was in very ordinary condition so mum told her politely that she felt they had embelished but we were still interested. So mum spoke to the daughter about the price again and she said hold on Ill call my mum and confirm.... Well the old bitch must have thought that since we'd driven so far out of our way that we'd pay an extra $1500

Mum left and I gave the lady a call and of course she accused me of lying and I angrily told her in no uncertain terms that she was a sad and lonely so and so. An hour later her daughter rang up to ask why I was so upset and I explained the situation and the poor thing had to apologise for her mum.

I was going to organise to meet them somewhere out of their way and not show up as revenge but I didn't want to be slack to the daughter because she was very nice about the whole thing.

This guy however will see no mercy. In fact when you test drive it will do me a favour and pop a bag of sugar in the tank save me driving over there to do it.